I will be Installing tongue and groove pine horizontally on the walls in my shop.

Studs are 24” on center.

Boards are 3/4” thick and 12’ long.

From what I read, 18 gauge finishing nails are the norm for installing. But, I plan on hanging a lot of taxidermy mounts on the walls.

Most mounts will not be hung on studs. They will be hung all over using the strength of the board to hold them up.

Last thing I want is to come Into the shop and half my wall is on the ground.

Question is: Will 18 gauge nails be strong enough to hold up the wall and everything a man wants to hang on it?

Or should I take out the hammer and 3 1/4” nails and go to town?

Them little nails really grip the wood. I always put one in the bottom of the tongue and two below in the stud.

And 18 ga at 2 inches. You can always go longer.

I always went with 16 gauge 2 1/2 inch when putting up 1×8 car siding. If any spots that you know will not be noticeable, I would also countersink a few screws in and putty hole. Pine T&G is fun and easy to work with.

You can gain some strength by installing hangers. Google tongue and groove hidden hangers. It is what we used on the install for the ceiling in our family room. They look sort of like a hanger you put on the back of a picture.

As an added bonus no nails are seen from the front.G.

I always use 8D finish nails in 3/4" T & G on walls and ceilings. One nail toed in the base of the tongue on each stud, no face nailing unless necessary like when you get close to a corner on the tongue side.

Since you'll be running it with the tongue up the nails will be angled/oriented in a way that will allow them to hold an incredible amount of weight.

8D finish nails are 2 1/2" long and 3/32" dia. which I think is around a 12 gauge.

Here’s some pics of the last one I did. This was in a building a customer referred to as his cabana.

If you know the height things will be hung you could run blocking between the studs at that height before installing the t&g. It'll give you a better anchor for the hangers.

I was always partial to 1/4” crown staples in the 1 1/2” range.

Thanks guys for the tips!

Lugnut, do you hammer those nails in or are you using a nailer?

I have about 4000 staples left over from the build. Did you face nail or get them in at the base of the tongue?

My worry was they’d be blowing out the tongue and making a mess and hard to install the next board.

Glue on the studs will help with holding power

I like the 2 1/4" angled tee headed nails, in an air gun of course

I toe nail them at an angle you just kind of figure out. If your depth/ pressure is set right on the gun it works fine and holding power is far superior to 18s IMO.

I hand nail on walls and ceilings, get it close with a hammer and set it just below the surface at the base of the tongue with a nail set. It takes a little longer but IMO, it's a way better job then using pneumatic staplers or finish nailers.

I do use a pneumatic nailer with L-shaped cleats for T & G flooring installs.

Mine are similar to this one: